Questions we answer for you below. If you have a question, the answer is below!
1. Can I play?
2. How does the league work?
3. The Clinics listed under the Camps and Clinics tab on home page look great!
4. Uniforms and Equipment
5. What soccer level should my child play and how do I sign up?
6. Misc Information
1. Can I play?
Q. Can my child play soccer at Norfolk United?
A. Yes. Anyone can play soccer with Norfolk United regardless of age, income, gender, location or city of residence.
Q. Is it too late to sign up for soccer?
A. No, it is never too late. Norfolk United has programs, clinics camps and league play running all year long. Also, registration for the following season opens once the current season is underway. Click on the Regsitration link to register now!
Q. I am having trouble, can I apply for a scholarship?
A. Yes. Norfolk United's mission is to serve the community. You can apply for scholarship when you register. We require 2 items: 1) Completed scholarship form, 2) copy of your most recent tax return showing your gross adjusted income,
Q. At what age can my child start to play soccer?
A. We start both boys and girls as early as 3 years olds with our Little Strikers clinics. Small sided team soccer starts at 4 years old (U5 - under 5 year olds).
Q. Can I coach or assistant coach? What do I need to know?
A. You can coach even if you have never played soccer. Our league runs so well because our families help. We need you to coach/assistant coach/be a team manager. We will teach you what you need to know through clinics, our on line library and licensing courses. All you need is a love of kids.
Q. I am not comfortable coaching, can I help in other ways?
A. There are many ways you can help and we can adjust to your particular desires and time available. Please let us know whether you can only come for 1 hr per year or you want to take over lining our fields, running concessions, presenting awards, answering questions, refereeing a game or many other tasks we need performed. Click on our Volunteer tab to Learn how to help.!
2. How does the league work?
Q. When do the games start and how long do they run?
A. The fall season starts the Saturday after Labor Day and ends the weekend before Veterans Day. The spring season starts the second weekend in March and runs for 8 weeks ending in late April. We do not host games on long weekends
Q. Where are games played?
A. All or our Recreation games and all or our home Advanced games are played at Lake Taylor High School Soccer Complex at the corner of Princess Anne Parkway and Military Hwy. The away Advanced games play at sites around Southern Hampton roads. Nothing more than 30-40 minute drive is included in our league and most sites are 10-15 minutes from your home.
Q. When will I hear from my coach, and when will I start practices?
A. Returning players will be kept on the same team as the previous season unless the team folds or they request to be moved. For new players, coaches get preliminary rosters 2 weeks before the season begins and will contact you to start practices about 1 week prior to the season opening weekend. Returning teams may start practices at any time.
Q. How often will my child practice?
A. The younger ages (3-7 year olds) typically practice once per week for 1- 1.5 hours depending on the age group. 7 year olds and up typically practice twice per week for 1-1.5 hrs depending on the desires of the team. Rarely a team will practice 3 times per week but that is up to the team in general.
Q. Where will I practice?
A. We work hard to assign players to teams that practice in their neighborhood. This is not always possible especially for school based teams. All practices are in and around Norfolk and Southern Hampton Roads however. If you can not get to a location, we will work to relocate you to a team nearer to you.
Q. When will practices be?
A. The coach and team decide when the most players can make the most practice times. We recognize there are a lot of demands on family time, so the coaches work with their families to come up with the most convenient times. That said, the schedule has to meet the coaches available time as well, so he/she will have the final say.
Q. What do I do if I am assigned to a team that has practice times I can not make?
A. While encouraged even at recreation level to make all the practices and games, it is not required. If the schedule is such that you can not make games, you are still welcome to join the team, just be clear that you will not be at games. Practices are also not required although they are highly encouraged. Missing occasional practices due to other commitments is fine. If you can not make any practices, contact the office and we will find a team that meets your needs.
3. The Clinics listed under the Camps and Clinics tab on home page look great!
Q. Are the NUSC clinics listed under the "Camps and Clinics" tab on your home page included in my league fees?
A. Yes, The clinics listed in under our "Camps and Clinics" tab on our website are already included with your fees. There is no additional fee to attend these clinics.
Q. Can I attend these clinics in addition to my regular practices or even with my whole team if I want?
A. Yes, you can attend by yourself, in addition to your regular practices, or with your whole team as a regular practice, if that is what the coach desires to do.
Q. Do I have to attend the clinics every week if I start going?
A. No. While the clinics are laid out to progressively work through the entire range of soccer skills, it is up to you if you want to attend the series or only go to one clinic to work on a specific skill.
4. Uniforms and Equipment
Q. Where can I get a uniform?
A1. Recreation uniforms can be purchased at our office in at Premier Soccer on Colley Ave. See our "Uniform" tab for details. When you register you will be asked for uniform sizes. You are NOT purchasing the uniform at this time, you are merely helping us preorder correct sizes in correct amounts.
A2. Advanced uniforms must be purchased through our adidas club rep to get the NUSC club price. Our Advanced uniform representative is only Premier Soccer. Additionally, the club receives a rebate on every uniform ordered through our adidas club representative that we used to maintain our fields, goals, nets etc. If you find our uniform elsewhere you will likely pay a higher price and your expense will not generate a rebate to the club.
Q. When Should I buy a Uniform?
A1. As soon as you are registered for the current or following season. Recreation uniforms should be available throughout the year and can be purchased any time. These uniforms should last 3-4 seasons.
A2. Advanced uniforms are specialty items that are preordered months in advanced. The vendor typically keeps a stock for late registration, but these are best ordered as soon as you know you are playing at the Advanced level following tryouts.
Q. What makes up a uniform?
A1. Recreation uniforms consist of a White T-Shirt with NUSC logo, a Teal Green T-Shirt with NUSC logo, green/black shorts and white soccer socks that completely cover the shin guards (sold seperately). You must also buy shin guards. Schools may carry their school logo on the uniform, all others regardless of color should have the NUSC logo on the left breast. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ACTUAL NAMES BE ON A CHILDS SHIRT. Number are acceptable as are nicknames, but we advise against advertising childrens names in public spaces.
A2. Advanced uniforms are the adidas custom tournament green and blue kit with blue shorts. This will cost about $80.00 and is the same uniform that our select partner wears.
Q. What Equipment do I need and how much should it cost?
A. Every Player must have at a minimum, shin guards (we recommend the kind without the straps around the back of the leg and without the stirrup under the foot - about $15), fitted cleats designed for grass surfaces, socks that completely cover the shin guard and hold it in place and an age appropriate soccer ball. Balls come in three different sizes. A Size 3 ball is for 3-8 year olds (U4-U9), a Size 4 ball is for 9-11 year olds (U10-U12), a Size 5 ball is for 12 year olds and older (U13 and up). YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND A LOT ON A BALL. Players tend to go through balls quickly and or lose them so all you need is a proper size and weight ball. For younger ages ball, cleats and shinguards can be purchased for $30-$40.
5. What soccer level should my child play and how do I sign up?
Q. What are the different levels of soccer?
A. Norfolk United supports all 3 levels of soccer: Recreation, Advanced, and Select right here in Norfolk. We also have a Little Strikers program for our budding 3 year old soccer players. Norfolk United runs the developmental levels of soccer in the Norfolk area at the Little Striker, Recreation and Advanced levels. Norfolk Select level soccer is the premier level of soccer in Virginia and this is run by our Norfolk soccer partner: Athletic Club Norfolk.
Q. What is the difference between Recreation and Advanced soccer?
A. Both Advanced and Recreation levels are officially classified as Recreation soccer. All U8 (under 8) teams and below are Recreation Level only. U9 and older players may tryout for Advanced level or chose to continue with Recreation Level soccer. Advanced level is for players who desire to dedicate more time specifically to soccer and reach a higher level of commitment and competition. Recreation level is for players that want to stay in the game but may have other commitments and interests that prevent them from focusing on soccer as a primary sport?
Q. I want to register right away, can I?
A. Yes!
Go to our Registration tab and sign up now.
Q. The website will not allow me to register for Advanced, why not?
A. You tried to register directly for Advanced, the only way to get on an Advanced team is through attending our end of season tryouts or for late arrivals by arranging a special tryout with our Technical Director, a specific team coach or Board Member. If you desire to attend any of these types of tryouts you must register for "Advanced Tryouts" under our "Registration and Tryouts" tab on our website. This gets your data into our database and allows us to schedule you for a tryout and assign you to a team if accepted. For special tryouts you must register for tryouts on line as above and then contact the office and arrange a time and place for the tryout.
Q. When are the regular tryouts scheduled.
A. The specific dates will be on our "Club Calendar" tab on our website. Typically the primary tryouts occur in May following the completion of the Recreation and Advanced seasons. These tryouts are to form teams for both the fall and spring seasons of the coming school year. We may hold a supplemental tryout in January to fill and vacancies on our spring teams. If so this will be on our "Club Calendar" as well.
Q. I don't know if I can play for both season of the coming year, can I pay for only one season and only play for one season?
A. Yes. It is very common for teams to only play in the fall or spring due to other sport commitments that conflict with one of the seasons such as Baseball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Swimming and others. Both Individual players come and go for these reasons and others and entire teams fold and reform around other commitments. We will either supplement teams with additional players if they lose a few players or we will move remaining players that desire to continue to play to other teams for that season and then reform them with their primary team the following season.
Q. Can I play soccer and some other activity at the same time?
A. Yes. There are no prohibitions about playing two different sports at the same time such as Baseball, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, or Swimming etc and many of our players continue other activities through the year. There is also no restriction on doing other activities such as music, art or other activities. If the other sports and activities are mutually exclusive in practice and game times, however we ask that you evaluate priorities so you can be an active part of the soccer team as well.
6. Misc Information
Q. Is Advanced soccer more expensive than Recreation Soccer?
A. No, the soccer fees themselves are roughly the same between Recreation and Advanced for a given age group because the underlying fees to the club are the same. However, Advanced uniforms are typically a little more expensive than Recreation uniforms.
Q. Why do the fees go up with age?
A. The older the player, the more the costs to us. Fields, goals and balls are bigger and require a higher maintenance cost. The older teams require referees that have higher levels of certification which raises their costs. The older teams also require more referees for larger fields raising costs and insurance and state fees also rise for older age groups.
Q. Why do you charge a late registration fee?
A. We understand that some will be dissatisfied about paying a late fee. While we do not use this as a revenue generating item, we are a very large league run by volunteers. We service 1500 players and 130 teams per season, across 3 levels of play and in coordination with 8 surrounding leagues and we accept no payment for doing so. Our fees all go to delivering soccer to the families of Southern Hampton Roads Soccer community. We apply this fee to encourage families to register more than 3 weeks prior to our coaches meeting where we deliver rosters and schedules. This allows us 3 weeks to: identify players, register players, verify payment, find 130 coaches, form 130 teams and lastly ensure that each of our teams are properly scheduled to play at least 1 game (sometimes 2), over 8 weekends, in over 2 dozen locations around tidewater against 8 other soccer leagues. This is a complicated process. It further complicates that process when a child is registered as we are building rosters. This can change the number of teams, the players per team and the coaches we need to support those teams. It may mean that we turn that child away or have to place them on a team that is already full which results in all the players on that team getting less field time. If we get enough players early we can form a new team but to do so late in the process disrupts the schedule for an entire age group and this affects the plans of all the other families involved. Our registration typically opens in the second month of the previous season, giving plenty of time for families to plan for the upcoming season. We do this to provide maximum flexibility for families to plan and fund the season. There are many families that are too busy to plan months in advance, so we ask them to commit to soccer no later than 3 weeks prior to the season coaches meeting. For those that arrive to the area late or decide late in the process to participate, we WILL NOT TURN YOU AWAY, but we charge a small late fee to help us pay for the extra office help needed to support the surge of work needed to handle the extra assignment and scheduling work that our willingness to work will all families incurs.
Q. What do my fees pay for?
A. 40% goes to player insurance, referee fees, state/region league membership fees, 25% goes to pay for our staff, 25% goes to equipment (balls, nets goals, line paint, flags etc), 10% goes to administrative costs (phone, paper, computer etc.)
Q. Who are NUSCs employees?
A. NUSC is nonprofit so we work hard to hold costs down. We have 3 paid staff only. All Board Members and coordinators contribute as volunteers. We have 1 full time staff member, our technical director, and 2 part time staff: a registrar who forms the teams and the schedules and an administrator that mans our office, assists with registration, placement and Payments and educates the community on soccer and our league.
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